Three Wishes
When the ladies got together for a bit of girl talk Pannonica put for the th question of three wishes to Pearl Bailey who responded to her inquiry with this answer:
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“I only need one. I wish that humans would learn to live together with love, and then they wouldn’t need the other two wishes.”
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*Excerpt from Three Wishes: An Intimate Look at Jazz Greats ~ Compiled and Photographed by Pannonica de Koenigswarter
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Clotilde Rullaud was born March 1, 1978 in Reims, France and was immersed in the performing arts of music, theatre and dance from early childhood. At five, she began studying flute and singing at the conservatoire, before going on to complete her studies in jazz and improvised music at IACP in Paris, France and EDIM in Cachan, France. She explored opera singing with the tenor singer, Peterson Cowan.
Her musical identity developed through her travels through the Balkans, Ireland, Lebanon, the United States. Clotilde’s study of vocal techniques, inspired by Meredith Monk, fado, tango, Romani music, Turkish music, Persian music, Inuit throat singing and Bulgarian voices were also great influences.
She has recorded three albums as a vocalist and flutist, her 2007 debut with Hugo Lippi, Live au 7 Lézards She has also directed and produced a short film, and written and directed a multidisciplinary performance. With a repertoire spanning jazz, free improvisation and folk music, her career as a musician has led her to perform in France, Germany, Australia, Burkina Faso, China, South Korea, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Since 2007, Rullaud has taught at Martina A. Catella’s school, Les Glotte-Trotters in Paris, and conducted workshops for the festival Les Suds in Arles and for the Ateliers d’ethnomusicologie (ADEM) in Geneva, Switzerland. Moving to New York City in 2017 she collaborated with American pianist Chris McCarthy, producing Pieces of a Song, a repertoire of dark and beautiful pieces based on the writings of Diane di Prima, poetess of the Beat Generation.
She has performed with Olivier Hutman, Dano Haider, Antoine Paganotti, Tristan Macé, Albin Lebossé, Emmanuel Bex, Yann Cléry, Laurent Salzard, Gautier Garrigue, and Alexandre Saada, the latter collaboration produced A Woman’s Journey, a homage to American female protest songstresses.
She has received numerous awards for her work in both jazz and film. Vocalist, flutist and composer Clotilde Rulllaud, who is also an artistic director, filmmaker, producer and facilitator, continues to pursue the limits of her creativity.
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Review: Denise Donatelli | Whistling In The Dark
Whistling In The Dark is the latest offering from Grammy nominated vocalist Denise Donatelli. Paying tribute to Burt Bacharach is nothing less than amazing as she continuously illustrates her interpretive range. She masterfully weaves a story through nine songs that fill us with desire, love, heartbreak, separation and loneliness, which are trademarks of this composer.
For those of us who have long been fans and admirers of Denise Donatelli’s work, this is not her usual upbeat and fun engagement that has been her wheelhouse. Dark, as in the title track, is the cornerstone of this project, yet she moves through the doubts, fears, sadness and tears of love with an emotional acumen that delivers and raises our own memories of those moments we humans experience throughout our lives.
The orchestration is minimal, a juxtaposition from the composer’s earlier arrangements on Warwick’s recordings that were filled with lushness, accentuating the lyric for effect. Less is often more and the simplicity in the accompaniment allows her to artfully capture our imaginations.
Of the Bacharach/David songs executive producer Denise Donatelli and producer Larry Klien selected for this recording, five are immediately recognizable, on which Dionne put her indelible stamp during their Sixties reign. There is no comparison, however, in their individual delivery, and no doubt that Ms. Donatelli has set herself apart by raising a quieter, more subtle bar for those jazz vocalists to aspire to.
The title track was composed with Daniel Tashian and Mexican Divorce with Bob Hilliard, the latter was written for the Drifters and where Bacharach met backup singer Dionne Warwick. For those of us who haven’t followed Bacharach since his Sixties heyday, Klein and Donatelli also chose two refreshing Bacharach/Elvis Costello compositions, Toledo and In The Darkest Place from their 1998 collaborative album Painted From Memory.
Recorded during the height of Covid in late September 2020 over a five day period, there is a relevant sadness to the loneliness society often felt evidenced with a national shutdown, homebound, socially-distanced, eating and/or living alone. The cover photograph embodies that tangible space between shadow and light, a place in which each of us exists, emphasized with the softer interior photo of the artist. The lowercase lettering epitomizes her sense of familiarity with her audience, conveying a cordial invitation to listen.
As for me, I’ve whistled in the dark and found it to be pleasurable, just like this contribution to the jazz canon. Darkness always withdraws with the approaching twilight, heralding the dawn of the new. Endings are where beginnings launch the next chapter, and Denise Donatelli is already underway to create her next masterpiece. Meanwhile, enjoy this gem.
carl anthony | notorious jazz | february 1, 2022
Give A Gift Of Jazz ~ Share 
#preserving genius
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The Quarantined Jazz Voyager
The variants are still plaguing society and yet most are taking a casual attitude in dealing with health. Understand it takes a village for all of us to get past this, to coin a phrase. Those of us who have had friends and family pass due to Covid~19 know the loss of loved ones. Stay vigilant people.
So, for those of you who are not familiar with the jazz side of the Queen Of Soul, allow this to be your introduction to the other side of her interpretive talent. This week I am pulling from the shelves one of her classic albums, Laughing On The Outside. It is the fourth studio album by Aretha Franklin, recorded at Columbia Recording Studios, in New York City on April 17, 1963 and on June 12–14, 1963 in Hollywood, California. It was released on August 12, 1963, by Columbia Records.
These sessions found a 21-year-old Aretha stepping away from her gospel roots and recording jazz and popular music standards, from Johnny Mercer to Betty Comden to Duke Ellington. She is backed by the arrangements of Columbia producer Robert Mersey. One of the most popular songs from the album is her interpretation of the classic Skylark. This was also one of the first times she recorded one of her written compositions, I Wonder (Where Are You Tonight), on an album.
Track Listing | 41:00
Side One
- Skylark (Johnny Mercer, Hoagy Carmichael) ~ 2:49
- For All We Know (Sam M. Lewis, J. Fred Coots) ~ 3:25
- Make Someone Happy (Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Jule Styne) ~ 3:48
- I Wonder (Where Are You Tonight)” (Aretha Franklin, Ted White) ~ 3:16
- Solitude (Duke Ellington, Eddie DeLange, Irving Mills) ~ 3:50
- Laughing on the Outside (Bernie Wayne, Ben Raleigh) ~ 3:14
Side Two
- Say It Isn’t So (Irving Berlin) ~ 3:05
- Until The Real Thing Comes Along (Sammy Cahn, Saul Chaplin, L. E. Freeman) ~ 3:04
- If Ever I Would Leave You” (Alan Jay Lerner, Frederick Loewe) ~ 4:04
- Where Are You? (Harold Adamson, Jimmy McHugh) ~ 3:50
- Mr. Ugly (Norman Mapp) ~ 3:22
- I Wanna Be Around (Johnny Mercer, Sadie Vimmerstedt) ~ 2:25
- Aretha Franklin ~ vocals
- Robert Mersey ~ producer, arranger, conductor
- Earl Van Dyke, Dave Grusin, Andrew Acker, Leon Russell ~ piano
- C. Bosler, Ray Pohlman, Melvin Pollan ~ bass guitar
- Hindel Butts, Hal Blaine ~ drums
- Don Arnome, Tommy Tedesco, Billy Strange ~ guitar
- Jimmy Nottingham ~ trumpet
- Robert Ascher ~ trombone
- Plas Johnson ~ saxophone
- Bernard Eichenbaum, Julius Schacter, Leo Kahn, Berl Senofsky, Felix Gigol, Max Pollikoff, George Ockner, John Rublowsky, Sid Sharp, Tibor Zelig, George Poole, Irving Lipschultz, Irving Weinper, Darrel Terwilliger ~ violin
- R. Dickler, Theodore Israel, Jacob Glick ~ viola
- Jesse Erlich, Anthony Twardowsky, Joseph Tekula ~ cello
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The Quarantined Jazz Voyager
Do what you desire to or not protect your health but be responsible for the health of your fellow man. This is my request. The children are spreading this far more than adults as I continue to hear reports from friends that they caught Covid from children who have greater exposure.
The album It’s A Quiet Thing from vocalist Morgana King is taken from the stacks representing the need for silence and reflection during this time of uneasiness. Produced by Jimmy Bowen, the album was recorded and released on the Reprise label in 1965 with arrangements by Torrie Zito brings us music reflective of the title.
Noise is not required to transport us to destinations that conjure memories. It’s class and sophistication that makes this an elegant compendium of songs. The arrangements and orchestration are equally soft and complimentary to her voice. Her incredible vocal range is backed by a menu of textured strings, guitar, French horn and bossa nova.
Artistry is something one has and when two purveyors connect we become privy to an excellent outcome. This happens to fill that order. So sit back, relax and listen.
Tracks | 31:27- It’s a Quiet Thing (Fred Ebb, John Kander) ~ 3:02
- Dindi (Ray Gilbert, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Aloysio de Oliveira) ~ 4:00
- Useless Landscape (Gilbert, Jobim, de Oliveira) ~ 3:12
- Gone with the Wind (Herbert Magidson, Allie Wrubel) ~ 2:58
- Little Girl Blue (Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers) ~ 3:35
- Mountain High, Valley Low (Bernie Hanighen, Raymond Scott) ~ 2:09
- How Insensitive (Norman Gimbel, Jobim, Vinícius de Moraes) ~ 3:14
- Here’s That Rainy Day (Johnny Burke, Jimmy Van Heusen) ~ 2:38
- Deep Song (George Cory, Douglass Cross) ~ 3:38
- If You Should Leave Me (E Se Domani) (Arthur Altman, Giorgio Calabrese, Al Stillman) ~ 3:01
- Morgana King ~ vocals
- Torrie Zito ~ arranger
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